Little White Lies
by JoMarchWrites
Summary: They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but it certainly isn't true when a long-forgotten case sends New York's best detectives to the hot, wild Nevada strip. Old demons, new complications, and a few little white lies threaten the bonds between the members of LVPD CSI and NYPD SVU. Will they be able to handle the heat of Vegas? Or will they get burned? EO Grillows
1. Chapter 1

**_**Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. CSI is the intellectual property of Anthony E. Zuiker. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.**_**

"Please," Olivia Benson mumbled through half-closed lips, "Shut up." She pushed her dark sunglasses up higher on her nose, and swept her long, mahogany-colored hair out of her face.

"Just saying," Fin Tutuola said with a short chuckle, "I never saw you drink like that. In fact, Liv, you did a lot of things I never saw you do, last night. A whole side of you I didn't know you had came out to play."

"Drop it," she snapped, opening the trunk of the black Ford Explorer they'd just gotten out of, and she grabbed a black duffel bag. Slamming the trunk shut, she shook her head a bit and said, "That girl...you're never gonna see her again."

"Pity," Elliot Stabler said as he stepped in front of her, having gotten out of the other side of the vehicle. "She was a fuck load of fun." He smoothed out his tie, smirking and kicking his lips, and behind his own tinted shades, he wagged his eyebrows at her.

She glared at him, her dark round lenses blocking the harsh look, and she stepped aside and around him, shooting up a middle finger as she walked away.

"She okay?" Fin asked, raising one eyebrow at Elliot.

"Hangover from Hell," he replied, shoving his hands into the pockets of his light gray pants. "I have a killer one myself, but, I guess, I handle them better than she does." He took a breath and started walking in the same direction Olivia had, grinning as, from behind his sunglasses, he stared at her perfect ass.

"Olivia!" An older man, tall with a shortly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard, ran down the steps of the building in front of them, smiling and stretching out his arms.

Both Fin and Elliot looked on, confused, as Olivia embraced him, just as happy and as eager as he was.

"Grissom," she said, sighing. She pulled back and looked at the man, the smile still on her face. "It's so...good...to see you."

"Likewise," he told her, his hands still half around her waist. He looked to her left and her right, pulling away from her as she became flanked by Elliot and Fin. "Boys," he said, nodding at each of them. "Gil Grissom, Las Vegas PD crime lab..."

"And world-renowned forensic science expert, acclaimed etymological genius, and best professor of pathology I've ever had," Olivia added, smiling. "Am I forgetting anything?"

Grissom and Olivia shared a laugh, and she held her right hand out, gesturing to Elliot. "Gil, this is..."

"Elliot Stabler," Grissom said, shaking his hand. "As much as she talks about you, I knew right away it was you." He looked over toward Fin. "And, you are?" He held out his hand.

"Odafin Tutuola," Fin said, shaking Grissom's hand. "Why are we here, exactly?"

Grissom took his hand back and gave Fin a slightly less cheerful expression. "Actually, my request was just for Olivia." He jerked his head toward her. "And Elliot, of course. But to answer the question, you're here because my lab seems to have inherited one of your old cases."

"Lead the way," Olivia said, waving a hand out and upward, toward the building.

Grissom smiled at her and shook his head again. "You really do look great," he said. "Happy." He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Married?"

Olivia's smile faded, and she suddenly looked quite sick. "Just, um, can we..." she pointed to the building again.

"Same old Olivia," Grissom laughed, and he turned and led the trio into the building. "Dal," he said, bringing them toward a security guard near a large metal detector. "Detectives Benson, Stabler, and um..." he turned.

"Tutuola," Fin said, slightly annoyed.

"In from the NYPD," Grissom continued. "They need visitor passes, give them the 'green' ones. They're armed, guns and badges, so take them through one-by-one."

Dal, the guard, nodded, unlocking and opening a drawer to his left. He pulled out three lanyards, green in color, and signaled Olivia through the detector's wide arch. He gave her a quick frisk as it beeped, nodding when he saw the gun and badge on her hip. "Take those off, please, Detective?" he said, pointing to her sunglasses.

Slowly, she removed her shades, instantly wincing in the bright light of the lobby. She put the sunglasses in her pocket and shot Dal a hard glare.

The guard gave her a crooked look, shook his head, and took a picture of her with a digital camera. He turned and hit a few buttons on a computer keyboard and a printer whirred. He reached over a long table and grabbed the photo pass that had come out of the machine, slipped it into the plastic sleeve at the end of the lanyard, and then looped in around her neck. He looked away from her and crooked his finger, now starting the process over again with Elliot.

She looked down at the pass, smirked, and then looked up at Grissom. "A three-year pass?"

"Wishful thinking," he said innocently. "So tell me why you almost lost your breakfast when I asked if you were married."

"I didn't eat breakfast," she said, gripping the duffel bag a bit harder. "How's Catherine?"

Grissom tilted his head along with his smile, pointing coyly at her. "You haven't changed at all. Always deflecting the personal questions with ones of your own."

"It's one of her more endearing qualities," Elliot said, stepping up behind her. "So what case is this? I mean, Vegas...it's a long way from New York. I'm sure there were plenty of other detectives you could have..."

"I know Olivia," Grissom interrupted. "She needs to see her cases through to the very end. All of them. Besides, if I had to request someone from New York, I wanted the best."

"Hey, three years?" Fin yelled, looking down at his pass. "We being kidnapped or something?"

Olivia laughed and rolled her eyes. "No, think of it more like...an open invitation." She looked back at Grissom. "So back to Elliot's question..."

Grissom walked, knowing they'd follow, down the hallway. He led them around the left-side corner, as he said, "We were called to a partial body dump. Behind a bookstore on the strip." He pushed through a set of glass doors and continued. "It was't everything, just an arm, and a hand, so one of my guys ran the prints. When a criminal record came up, and I saw the name on the docs, well..." he shrugged proudly. He tugged gently on the hem of his knit vest, pushed open another glass door, and said, "I called you in on this, because I think you could help us find out who would want him dead. You would know any known connections, living members of victims' families...anything that would lead us to...finding out why and how he got here." He flicked a switch, turning on the light in the small lab.

A metal table sat in the middle of the room. On it, a glass case containing a severed human arm, badly bruised and mangled, with curled and broken fingers.

"Griss," Olivia said, kneeling to get a good view of the arm, "Who's is it?" Her eyes whipped toward Grissom.

Grissom folded his arms, flattened his smile, and leaned back against a work station. "Say hello to the left ulna, radius, humerus, and phalanges of one Richard White." He saw Olivia shoot up, her color drain, and he noticed Elliot immediately reach for her hand, take it, and squeeze it, hard. He heard Olivia's duffel bag drop to the marble floor. "Now, do you understand why I called you in on this?"

Olivia nodded, taking a deep breath. She pulled her hand away from Elliot, brushed both palms over her thighs, and looked around the lab as she took off her dark blue suit jacket, revealing a thick-strapped crew-neck tank. "It is hot in here," she complained.

"It's cold for Vegas," Grissom told her.

All of the heads turned, the swoosh of the opening glass door getting undivided attention. "I thought I saw you walking through my lab!" a younger man with a chiseled jaw and deep-set eyes said, a very think Texan accent dripping from each word. He grinned smugly as he pulled Olivia toward him, hugged her tight, and lifted her off the ground. "Dang, Benson, you are a sight for sore eyes!"

"Nick," Olivia laughed, "Down." She rolled her eyes as the man dropped her to the floor. "Nick Stokes, this is Elliot Stabler, my partner," she dropped a hand to Elliot's shoulder and squeezed, a silent warning to play nice. "El, Nick was one of the TA's working with Grissom, at Sienna." She smiled again at Nick.

"Oh, that wounds me, Benson," Nick said, clutching his heart dramatically. His biceps put a great deal of strain on his short-sleeved black tee shirt as his arms bent, and he shook his head and whimpered a bit. "We have more history than that."

Olivia cleared her throat, ignoring Nick's comment, and called over to Fin. "Fin, uh, meet Nick." She turned back to Nick. "This is Fin Tutuola, another detective we work with. Is this...is this your case?" she asked, pointing to the encased arm.

"Yeah, well," Nick looked at Grissom. "It is now." He looked back at Olivia, his eyes traveling up and down her body, taking in the curves and angles that the fabric of her pants hugged and her heeled boots accentuated. "How long you here for, Benson?"

"A few days," Olivia answered. She cleared her throat and shivered slightly, feeling the heat radiating off of Elliot's body as he stood beside her, inching closer, almost defensively. "A week, tops, you know...just staying until this murder is solved." She took a step between Elliot and Nick, suppressing a yelp when she felt Elliot's hands move to grab her hips. She swatted them away fast, smiled as naturally as she could force, and said, "We'll need to see where you found the arm."

"Of course," Grissom said, nodding and straightening up. "Nicky, show them where they can put their things." He looked at Fin and Elliot. "You might want to change. I don't think either of you are appropriately dressed for a Vegas April." He looked at Olivia and said, "Catherine will take you to the bookstore."

Olivia smiled, gave Grissom another short hug, and followed Nick out of the lab. Fin followed her, and Elliot moved to follow him, when Grissom's voice stopped him.

Elliot turned. There was an uncertainty and confusion in his eyes as he silently asked Grissom what he wanted.

"If you're going to act like a possessive mate, Detective Stabler, you'd better have a reason," Grissom said."And a right." He had a placating smile on his face, but his words and demeanor were that of a protective father. "Olivia knows how to handle herself, and she gets very agitated if anyone else tries to take care of her. She also does what she wants, when she wants, and won't ever do anything she isn't one-hundred-percent invested in. I'm sure, after being her partner for so long, that you are aware of that." He looked up at Elliot, resting one hand on the door handle as the other pointed at him. "Bit of advice," he said, "If you had any reason to doubt her, you'd know it."

Elliot's eyes flickered and squinted quickly, and he grinned back at Grissom smugly. "You think you know her better than I do?"

Grissom shot him a look, his head tilted and his eyes glinting knowingly, his smile one that seemed to say, _Oh, come on, of course I do._ "Elliot," he said, "I know things about her...and you...that I'm sure you don't think anyone else does."

"Do you?" Elliot asked, a challenge, as he crossed his arms. "You said...you said she told you about me?"

Grissom laughed. "Every time we talk, Elliot, somehow, you always come up." He tapped his right temple, that same condescending look on his face. "I'm sure she told you all about me," he said, "And you're holding back on making a good impression for the sake of...what is his name again? Fin?"

Elliot nodded.

"Let me guess," Grissom pushed the door open, and then walked with Elliot back through the halls toward the lobby. "Your captain, for some strange and probably asinine reason, didn't want you and Olivia out here alone. He couldn't get the time away, so he sent another member of your team, one just gruff enough to keep the two of you from doing something stupid." He stopped, and he pulled on Elliot's arm, gently, but enough to stop him. "Something you probably wouldn't think is stupid at all."

Elliot swallowed hard, turned slowly, and licked his lips. "Maybe," he said.

"Like I said," Grissom told him with a sigh, "She would never do anything..."

"I know," Elliot said, stopping the older and obviously wiser man. "She did, uh, tell me about you. But what she told me...she made it sound like you were..."

Grissom held up a hand, picking up his pace again. "That'll come later," he said, knowing what Elliot was going to say. He swiveled quickly as they walked, grabbing a few things off of a cart in the hall. "Here," he said, handing Elliot a folded cotton tee. "That'll be much more comfortable."

They came to a stop near the front doors, turning when they heard voices and footsteps. Olivia was in the middle of an animated conversation with a woman about her height, but older, with strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. Fin and Nick, silent and sort of glaring at each other, walked behind the women.

Elliot's breath hitched. Olivia, too, had changed. Her hair was now pulled back in a clip, her silk top replaced by a tee shirt identical to the ones Nick, and Fin, were wearing. The same one was being twisted in his hands. "Liv," he said, his eyes softening as she came up beside him. "Everything okay?"

She smiled at him, nodded, and said, "Ready to go?"

Elliot nodded back at her, letting his hand slide down her bare arm. "Yeah," he said, and his fingers itched with the desire to grab her hand. Her left hand. Hold it. But he knew that he couldn't, for several reasons. "You might want to put your sunglasses back on," he told her, jutting a thumb over his shoulder toward the bright Vegas afternoon beyond the doors. He leaned closer to her. "How are you feeling, by the way?"

"Awful," she said, digging her sunglasses out of her pocket. She put them on, her shoulders relaxing a bit, and said, "Not about...I mean I'm...good...with that."

"Yeah, me, too," Elliot said, smiling at her. "Are you coming, Mister Grissom?"

Grissom grinned but shook his head. "Like I said, Catherine will take you. I've got a couple of guys out that way, trying to find the rest of the body. When you come back, Olivia, I'd like to talk to you and Elliot about your history with this case, in my office. I'll make coffee." He rested a hand on Elliot's shoulder. "And drop the 'mister,' Olivia's family so...you're family."

Elliot narrowed his eyes as he watched Grissom turn and walk away, and then turned to look quizzically at Olivia. There was something she wasn't telling him, and he had a feeling it was going to change things. Well, more than they already had.

 ** _ **Peace and Love**_**

 ** _ **Jo**_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. CSI is the intellectual property of Anthony E. Zuiker. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

In the small, silent lab, Elliot hovered over Olivia as she worked. Something was weighing on him, and he had to bite the bullet."So, uh, you and Mick…"

"Nick," Olivia corrected, her rubber-gloved hands filtering through a pile of trash on the back-lit table.

Elliot scoffed. "Nick, right, sorry." He shoved a metal prod into the pile and separated the plastic bottles for her. "Something there you're not telling me?"

She shifted her eyes toward him, glaring through her lab goggles. "You have something to ask me, Stabler, just ask." She shook her head and resumed organizing the garbage, looking for something specific.

"You sleep with him?" he asked, doing as she'd asked.

"Literally? No, never," she answered. She unfolded a piece of yellow paper covered in brown, sticky stains. "Receipt from Starbucks," she said, tossing it aside."Not his."

"Liv, you know what I mean," he said gruffly, irritated. "You fucked him, yeah?"

She rolled her plastic-shielded eyes. "Christ," she spat. "Yeah, I did. A couple of times. In college. I told you this story, Elliot. You know all about him."

He narrowed his eyes, folded his arms, and then suddenly, it made sense. "He's the guy…you were going to…"

"I didn't," she said. She looked at him sharply. "Congratulations, you're the first, and only, now can we drop the subject? It was college, it was a decade ago, and it was…"

The lab's glass door swooshed open and they stiffened, immediately straightening up. Elliot nodded at the man who'd just walked in, offering a smile. "We didn't find anything," he said, "Except this." He held up a sealed evidence bag containing a white ATM receipt with black-dusted prints on it.

Grissom took the bag and scrutinized it. "Olivia," he said, looking over at her, "You still got it."

"Got what?" she chuckled, resting her hands on the table as she looked at him.

Grissom waved the bag at her. "You've got a very distinctive method. I could tell by the brush strokes, you found this print." He laughed and gave her a sideways smile. "I still can't find anyone who does this the way you do."

Olivia blushed a bit, lowered her head, and resumed poking around in the garbage. "Print is White's," she said. "Time on the receipt is at least six hours before he died, if your ME is right about TOD."

"Doc Robbins," Grissom said with a single nod, "Is always right." He laid the bag gently down on the corner of the table and looked to his right. "Elliot, a word?"

Elliot send a cautious look toward Olivia. "Should she…"

"She knows what she's doing," Grissom said. "Nothing is truer than that. My office," he said, pointing toward the door.

Elliot nodded, licking his lips nervously. He took of his plastic goggles, set them on the table, and followed Grissom out of the lab and into the hall. "If this is about White, Liv and I already told you…"

"It's not," Grissom interrupted. "Not entirely." He walked briskly, knowing Elliot would keep his pace, toward and then into his office. He gestured for Elliot to sit. He leaned against his desk, crossed his arms over his chest and his feet at the ankles, and said, "Does Olivia know you had someone watching White?"

Elliot was taken aback. "Um, no, and I have to ask…how you know that."

Grissom smiled again. "I asked," he said simply as he shrugged. "What you didn't know, Elliot, is the guard you had in your pocket was killed six months ago. No one has been monitoring him for you, since then, and that's why you didn't know he'd gotten out." He took a slow breath. "It scared you more than it scared her, didn't it? Having someone so obsessive focused on her."

"Yeah," Elliot said, nodding. "I had to know…that she was safe. That he couldn't…" he stopped. "Wait, you think I killed him?"

Grissom made an offended face and shook his head. "No, of course not. Nor do I think you had anything to do with it. I'm simply stating…I know why you did what you did, and I understand it. But she would have been really pissed off if she found out." He reached behind him, grabbing a folder off of his desk. He held it up, as if it was show-and-tell, and he twisted his wrist, handing it to Elliot. "I'm giving this to you, so that she doesn't find out, until you decide to tell her."

Elliot opened the folder and his chest rose and fell in gross realization. "Um, thank you, but…why? I mean, the way you are, I thought you'd put her first and…"

"I am," Grissom interrupted again. His eyes were now severe, his smile flat and almost threatening. "I know what you mean to her. I know that you may think you've managed to keep some sort of monumental secret, but I pride myself on not being susceptible to secrets. I'm giving you this, not to protect you, but to protect her."

"Yeah, I…I get it," Elliot said. He closed the folder and looked up at Grissom. "Forgive me if I'm overstepping, here, but…I've met people she's worked with, I've met a couple other former professors, and old friends, but you…" he shook a finger at him and tilted his head, smiling inquisitively. "Something about you. You're almost too…"

"She's like a daughter to me, Elliot," Grissom interrupted, straightening up. He walked around his desk, grabbed something off of one of his shelves, and sat in his cushioned chair. "Did she ever show you this?"

Elliot reached out and took the leather-bound book which Grissom was offering. "No, uh, she told me she never got one. She couldn't afford it." He flipped it open, looking page-by-page for any mention of Olivia. He stopped, running a finger down a black-and-white photo of Olivia, wearing a white lab-coat and holding a mangled bullet between her thumb and forefinger. He traced the outline of her face with his fingertip, smiling. "She looks happy, here."

"She was," Grissom said, smiling, too. "She was in her element, in that class. She could have had a brilliant career in forensics. But, she had her mind made up, and her heart set on the Special Victims Unit. No matter how many times I asked, how much I begged her to come back to Vegas with me after graduation, work here, she refused."

Elliot looked at Grissom. "You know why," he said, assuming. "Don't you?"

"Unfortunately," Grissom said sadly, nodding. "It didn't stop me from working for it. I pushed her, hard, and she almost dropped my class, that last year, but she…was the best student I'd ever had. So much talent, potential, and brilliance." He shrugged a bit and laughed as Elliot flipped through more pages. "You won't find it," he said.

"No?" Elliot asked. "Why not? Didn't she take..."

"She skipped picture day," Grissom said, smirking. "Turn to the back, read it, and then tell me why you think I am the way that I am with her."

Elliot scrunched up his face. He turned the book over completely and flipped open the back cover. He looked down and grinned, seeing the entirety of the panel filled with Olivia's swirly script.

 _Grissom,_

 _You will never truly understand, and I don't think I will either, how much you have meant to me. My time here at Sienna has been turbulent, to say the least, but the constant – the thing keeping me in control – has been you. Your guidance, in and out of the classroom, has been such a Godsend. You have saved my life, and I am not just being dramatic. You've helped me find confidence I didn't think I could or would ever possess, courage I didn't believe existed, and have fanned a fire within me that, until I met you, had only been bare embers. Because of you, I am certain of the path I need to take in my life, and I know that I won't walk it alone. Thank you for being there when I really needed you. Grissom, thank you for every bit of advice and the true compassion you've shown me. I never had a father, and as a kid, whenever I thought of him, I imagined him to be a monster. The truth is, now, I imagine him to be something more like you. This is going to sound silly, maybe even insane, but there I times when I do think of you as my father. You've given me something to hold onto, memories I can be proud of, instead of afraid. The conversations we've had will forever be favorite quotes I not only repeat to myself but to others, imparting your wisdom on those not lucky enough to have met you. You've taken me under your wing, these past four years, and I don't pretend to know why, but I am thankful. I've thought a lot about your offer, and while it is incredibly generous and enticing, I must refuse. I'm still compelled to follow my heart, back to New York City, to keep what has happened to my mother, and to me, from happening to someone else. You've given me the strength to do it, Grissom. If I become half the person you are, I will be truly honored, blessed, and I will owe it all to you. If you ever make it back to New York, please, find me. You'll know how. Just as I would know, immediately, how to find you if I ever head out to Vegas. Follow the evidence. It never lies._

 _Olivia Benson._

He looked up at Grissom, a new understanding in his eyes. "She said…you were there when she needed you, what does that…" he cleared his throat. "What happened? I know her, and I know, even then, if she said something like that, there was a damn good reason."

Grissom folded his hands and looked away from Elliot. "Did she tell you…her sophomore year, her mother had an…accident?"

Elliot shrank in the seat, his head falling back as the memory hit him, the conversation coming back to him. "You were the…damn, I didn't…yeah, she told me. She told me everything, except, I guess…she never mentioned any names, and I didn't put two and two together. You drove her all the way to Jersey, paid for…" he stopped, watching Grissom, with closed eyes and a bit-in lip, nod. "Thank you. Grissom, thank you for everything you've done for her."

Grissom smiled and opened his eyes. "I never felt a responsibility for anyone like that, and I can't explain it, it hasn't happened since." He looked at Elliot, directly, and leaned a bit closer to him. "I wish we could have met, before this, but every time I asked her to come out here, she never could. We had a few quick lunches together, when I was in New York for conferences, but…she had you." He pressed his lips together for a moment. "See, when she met you, she didn't really need me, as much, anymore. You did everything I did for her, and more. Elliot, so, so much more. Understand this, Elliot, I don't intend to let this much time pass before seeing her again, and I know as well as you do that she confides in me just as she does you, so if she ever tells me that you…"

"She won't," Elliot said fast, stopping him. "I promise, I will never hurt her. I think you know that."

"I do," Grissom said. "And she does. Has she told you that?" He saw Elliot's eyes light up. "A few years ago, the last real heart-to-heart I had with her, she told me about you. She said she found someone who pushed her the way had, who aggravated her in ways no one ever did, and who…who she had absolute faith and trust in, and she knew that he would never hurt her, never let her down." He grinned. "You feel the same way?"

Elliot smiled. "What does the evidence tell you?"

Grissom moved first, reaching out a hand. Elliot shook it firmly, a silent promise between the two men, a contract. Grissom's office door swing open, then, and both men turned sharply, smiling at the woman who'd come through it.

"Gris, you need to see this," Olivia said, jutting a thumb over her shoulder. "Two of your guys brought in a few of, uh, White's missing parts."

Elliot rose, walked over to her, and without explaining why, or warning her, he pulled her into a tight hug. He whispered something in her ear and kissed the spot of skin just behind it.

Olivia shot Grissom a confused look over Elliot's shoulder as she hugged him back, scraping her nails down his back, knowing there were small goose bumps forming under the cotton. "El. I didn't know finding the body meant so much to you."

"It doesn't," Elliot laughed, pulling away from her. "But you do. You…you know that, already, though." He sighed and let his hands fall away from her, regretting it almost immediately. "I'm sorry about before, in the lab, I was…"

"Jealous," she said. "I know." Tilting her head a bit, she nodded, and her left brow arched. "What happened in here?"

"Grissom put me in my place," Elliot said, turning to look at the older man. "And, uh, I think I put him in his, too."

"Well, uh, I'm glad you guys are getting along," she said, giving each one a smile that meant something different. "Anyway, we should get to the lab before they make a mess of things."

Grissom got up and walked over to the pair, as he said, "What did they find?"

Olivia looked back at Elliot. "A leg, a foot, and…" she cringed. "His tongue."

 _ **Peace and Love**_

 _ **Jo**_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. CSI is the intellectual property of Anthony E. Zuiker. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

Grissom stood between Olivia and Nick on one side of the table, while Elliot and Catherine stood on the other. On the table, lit from beneath, were the dismembered parts of Richard White. Elliot swallowed hard in disgust, thinking that it reminded him of a cannibalistic jigsaw puzzle, with a lot of missing pieces.

Catherine Willows, stern-faced, pulled on a pair of latex gloves and slowly turned the leg over. "Anyone see anything?"

There was a moment of silence as Nick squinted and rested a hand on chin, while Grissom grinned, waiting for what he knew was coming.

Olivia spoke, then, taking hold of the leg just beneath Catherine's hand. "This looks cauterized," she said. "There's no discoloration. The body was hacked up post-mortem. With a very sharp, very hot tool."

Elliot beamed proudly at her, seeing Grissom grin, and he said, "Damn, Liv."

"What are you thinking?" Grissom asked her, pride in his eyes as well.

Olivia leaned closer to the limb, turned it, tilted her head, and then said, "Handsaw saw, maybe? Or a laser-cutter, like the ones they use in industrial manufacturing." She looked at Elliot. "To cut steel sheets and beams."

"Good," Grissom said with a smile. He turned to Elliot, then, and raised one eyebrow. "Anything to add?"

Elliot narrowed his eyes. "I'm not good with this stuff," he said. "I didn't even know she was."

"I'm sure you know more than you think," Grissom said. "Look at the skin, look at the veining, the marks. Do you notice anything?"

With his bottom lip caught between his teeth, he leaned down to take a closer look, scanning the limb with his goggled eyes. "This," he said, pointing one finger to a spot on the ankle, "This doesn't look like the other cuts. And it's, um, fuck, what does Warner say all the time?" He snapped his fingers and said, "Blood pooling."

"Impressive," Grissom said, and he rested a hand on Olivia's shoulder, as if giving her his approval. From his left, he heard Nick scoff and mumble something. He turned, curious and knowing, and asked, "Something to say, Nick?"

"About this?" Nick returned, acting innocent, pointing to the leg. "No, no, I'm good." He smirked and said, "I'm more interested in that." He flipped his finger and angled it toward the severed tongue, lying on a thin sheet of plastic.

Olivia shuddered. "That's just…wrong, Nick," she said with a slightly disturbed laugh.

"Why is it blue, here?" Elliot asked, staring at it and indicating the edges it, where the tissue looked purplish-grey. "Wait, no, don't tell me, I know…" he scratched at his head for a moment, and then he smiled. "This was, uh, removed…when he was still alive." He looked at Olivia. "Perimortem, right?"

She smiled at him, nodding. "Right."

Again, Nick scoffed, crossing his arms. "I knew that," he said under his breath.

Grissom turned to look at him and asked, "How do you think this happened, Nick?"

Nick blinked fast twice, and then his eyes darted from Olivia, to Catherine, and then to Elliot, where they seemed to flare and narrow, and then he looked at the tongue. "Well, uh, it…there's bruising near the tip, there. Looks like maybe some kind of clamp-marks, so someone…" he moved his hands, demonstrating how he envisioned it happening. "Someone clamped his tongue, pulled…and…sliced. A very sharp, clean edged blade." He pointed to the tongue again. "No jagged or torn tissue, here, and no serrated marks."

"Good job, Nicky," Catherine said, nodding once at him.

Elliot rubbed his hand over his chin. "I got a question," he said. "Not that I've had a lot of experience, I don't really know what the hell I'm talking about, here…but if I was going to chop up a body…I'd make it easy on myself, break at the joints, bend and snap, and slice through softer tissue. Like, uh, carving a turkey." He looked from the table of parts to Olivia. "These bits a pieces…look at the foot, now wouldn't someone's first instinct be to cut it off above the ankle? This is…severed right above the heel. And the arm…we got the full shoulder, like it was cut off…" he swiped his hand, in a straight, clean motion, from the crook of his neck down to his armpit. "Like that. Isn't that…odd?"

"Well, I'll be damned," Catherine said, balling her hands into fists and setting them on her hips. "He's right."

Grissom chuckled. "I knew you'd see everything I needed you to see," he said.

Nick turned and furrowed his brow at Grissom. "You knew all of that, and instead of telling us, you just stood there and let us look stupid?"

"I'm having the worst case of déjà-vu," Olivia said, chuckling. "Oh, that class was…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "So what do we do now?"

Grissom, peeling the gloves off his hands, started speaking. "Olivia and Elliot, you two find Fin. The three of you, find any connection you can between White and someone who would work in construction. Nick," he looked at Stokes as he pulled off his goggles. "You and Sara head out to the bookstore, and see if there's any construction going on in the area. The primary crime scene and the dump site have to be close, there's limited elemental exposure here," he said, waving a hand over the table.

"What do you want me to do?" Catherine asked, looking up at him as she took off her own gloves and goggles.

"You…" Grissom caught her eyes and tried to hide the smirk on his face. "Come with me."

Grissom and Catherine walked out of the lab, leaving the three younger investigators alone. Olivia felt the tension fill the room immediately, and she snapped off her gloves to break the silence. "I don't remember anyone from our first round with White having any ties to Vegas. Do you?"

Elliot shook his head, taking off his safety glasses. He tossed them onto the counter behind him and said, "You know, I have been trying to hold this in, I don't want to sound crass, here, but…" he sighed. "I'm glad he's dead."

"I know you are," Olivia said. She walked over to him, dropped her goggles next to his, and then stood beside him, looking down at the table. "This is, so far, all that's left of the son-of-a-bitch."

"No one told me," Nick spoke, "Exactly what happened between you and this pile of bones, here?" He was looking at Olivia, not Elliot, and asked, "He hurt you?"

"Tried to," Elliot answered. His nostrils flared as he continued. "We were after him for a string of rape-murders. He used to stalk his victims, terrorize them, then rape and slaughter them. We brought him in, and after Liv questioned him the first time, he…she became his next target."

"What?" Nick asked, air leaving his lungs so fast it burned. "You just let him…"

"I didn't let him do anything," Elliot said, sneering. "I made sure she was very well protected, believe me." His eyes darkened in mild fury, and his lips curled at the corners, into a vile smirk. "I planned it, I admit it. How I'd kill him if he tried anything. When we finally had enough on him, the night we arrested him, he…he threatened her, told her he'd never stop fixating on her, and it…killed me, instead. Knowing he was still breathing, and if someone ever opened his cage, he'd go after her."

Nick took a slow, deep breath, looked from Elliot to Olivia, and said, "God, Olivia. You okay?"

Olivia nodded. "I never even give him a second thought," she said with a shrug. "A lot of the humps we put away make threats like that, and they never follow through, either because they never get out or get themselves killed or someone else pisses them off more than we did." She looked up at Nick. "With White, I just…thought he'd never get out." She turned slightly toward Elliot. "And if he ever did, I thought someone would tell you."

Elliot's head snapped, his eyes wide, shocked. "You…you know? How the hell do you know?"

She laughed and folded her arms. "I'm your partner," she said, rolling her eyes. "I get the same e-mails and dockets that you get, and if you're not in the room, I have to take your messages and memos." She lowered her eyes a bit, staring at his mouth as his stunned slack-jaw reworked itself into an apologetic grin. "Why didn't you just tell me? All this time, I was...waiting for you to tell me."

"Oh, and relive the last time I had someone on your six?" he asked, making a disbelieving face at her. "Every time I pull shit like that, to protect you, we have the same fucking fight. You're a big girl, you don't need a babysitter, you can take care of yourself." He shook his head. "If you knew I was paying a guard in Rikers to keep track of White's every move, so I'd be ready for him, you'd have had me committed."

She let her head drop to one side, eyeing him. "No, El, with White…it was different. I would've..." she paused. "You know, whether I wanted to admit it or not, it would have been a lot easier to forget all about him if I had that certainty behind it."

"You…you're not mad at me?" he questioned.

"Oh, I'm pissed," she laughed. "But I understand it, and I never brought it up because I knew how important it was...for you to think you were…saving me."

Nick cleared his throat and when the two other people in the room, he grinned and waved at them. "Hi, guys, I'm still in the room."

Olivia, rolling her eyes, said, "You shouldn't be. None of us should. You need to get out to the bookshop. El, we need to find Fin…and find out who White got involved with out here."

Elliot nodded and headed for the door, listening furtively as Nick whispered to Olivia behind his back, literally.

"You two look pretty close," Nick hissed, not hiding his jealousy.

Olivia nodded. "We are," she said. "I don't see why you're so…"

"You know why, Olivia," Nick said, now sounding hurt. "I thought it was obvious, the minute I saw you, that…"

"Nick," Olivia said, stopping in her tracks and stepping in front him. "We haven't really seen each other in years. Our past is…our past. I didn't come out here with any intention of picking up where we left off. I think you know that."

Nick shook his head. "No, if your partner wasn't here…"

"I would still be turning you down," she interrupted. "Look, I don't want this to get in the way of the job we have to do, or the relationship that we do have, Nicky. Please? Just…let it go?"

He was silent, staring into her eyes, but he nodded. "Does he know?" he asked her as they started walking. "About me? Us?"

Olivia tugged on the clip in her hair, retightening the grip it had on her locks. "Yeah, Nick. He does. But he understands that…we happened before I even met him, and besides I'm not the same girl I was in college."

"No, Benson," Nick said with a sigh. "You're exactly the same. Are you with him? Like with him, with him? How long's it been?"

"I am not doing this with you," she said, frustration building as she tried to keep her voice low. She looked through the windows and doors of labs and offices as they walked. "Where the hell is Fin?"

"Is it serious?" Nick asked, prodding, a desperation in his voice now. "You could be here for a while, things could change, I could prove it to you." He had to walk a little faster to keep up with her, now that she'd sped up. "Olivia, I'm willing to give it a shot, here, you know, part of me always knew we'd find our way around again. We got a second chance, here!"

"Nick, it's not going to happen," she said, gritting her teeth, "It's never going to happen."

Nick stopped, he reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her, too, and he asked, "Olivia, what the hell did this guy do to you?"

Elliot heard it, and he turned on his heels, a fire in his eyes. He let his head drop just a bit as he gave Nick a face he usually only reserved for people he was about to physically hurt. He looked at Olivia, smirked, and turned back to Nick. "I married her."

 _ **Peace and Love**_

 _ **Jo**_


	4. Chapter 4

**_Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. CSI is the intellectual property of Anthony E. Zuiker. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction._**

"I can't believe you told him," Olivia spat harshly, her voice a gravelly whisper. She was comparing a local construction company's employee records and sign-in sheets to a list of the people who'd contacted White while he was in prison.

Elliot, doing the same with the logs from another company, flipped pages with one hand as the other cupped Olivia's right knee, under the table. He pressed firmly, stopping it from bobbing and bouncing, and leaned closer to her. His voice dropped, but came out more lustful than irritated. "You're lucky I didn't tell him what _else_ I did to you, last night." He crooked a brow at her and smirked.

She sighed, trying to keep her lips from curling into a smile. Failing, she grinned t him and rolled he eyes. "But you didn't have to tell him…that." She shot Fin a hazarding look, making sure he was fully engrossed in files and ignoring them. Satisfied that he was oblivious enough, she turned back to Elliot. "We haven't even talked about what the hell happened last night, or if you even want…"

"Excuse me," he interrupted, annoyed now, "You think that this wasn't going to happen, eventually?"

She rubbed four fingertips across her forehead and exhaled again."I think we had way too much to drink, I think we acted on impulse, and I think as the liquor works its way completely out of your system, you're going to realize what this means, and you're…"

"I'm not going to regret a fucking thing," he said, cutting her off, his hand working up higher on her thigh, his fingers curling between her legs. "You know we weren't that plastered." He saw her raise both of her eyebrows and tilt her head down, and he laughed. "Okay, uh, maybe we were. But we sobered up when we got back to the hotel, and I remember every fucking detail of that. I always do." He licked his lips. "It, uh, it was different, last night. Something was different, right?"

She bit her lip, suppressing the moan that had threatened to come to life, responding to his hand nestling itself at her juncture. "We were more possessive, but more…I don't know…uninhibited. It felt more…real."

"Because we made it real. And permanent," he whispered to her. "No more fear, or wondering what we're going to do to fuck it up, and something about…knowing that you are completely and totally mine, that no one else would ever love you the way you know I do, that no one else would ever…"

"Guys," Fin's voice broke into their personal conversation, sitting up and leaning forward, "I think I got something."

Olivia held out her hand, taking the packet of paper Fin offered to her. "What?" she asked, looking across the table at him.

Fin handed another stack of stapled paper to Elliot. "A few months ago, a guy named Roger Hanlin…his name shows up on White's visitor log, every day for six weeks, then never again. His name is on that roster," he pointed to Elliot's hands. "Conscious Construction, he's a job foreman, guess what job."

"Down the block from the bookstore," Elliot said, reading the logs. "This could be the break we've been looking for," he said, his face breaking into a somewhat relieved smile. "I'm going to make a phone…"

"No, you're not," Nick argued, pushing through into the conference room. It was the first thing he'd said to anyone since Elliot made his accidental admission. He sat, across from Olivia, and eyed the door as Grissom and Catherine walked in.

Grissom looked around. "What did the three of you find?" he asked, dropping his gaze to Olivia.

"Roger Hanlin," she said, handing him the papers she'd taken from Fin. "Has a connection to White and works in construction." She looked at Fin, then at Elliot, and then said, "He's the foreman on the new casino lot, a block away from the bookstore."

"Good, it's a start," Grissom folded his arms. "We can use that to get a warrant." He looked over to Catherine. "Give Brass a call, see how fast he can make that happen."

"Yeah," Catherine said, nodding. On her way out, though, she stopped net to Olivia, smiled at her, and leaned down to give her a short, but tight, hug. "Congratulations," she whispered. Leaving Olivia stunned, she shot a wink toward Elliot and walked out of the room again, to make the phone call Elliot had planned to make only moments ago.

"You told them?" Elliot asked, glaring across table at Nick.

Nick licked his lips with narrow eyes, nodding. "Doesn't really matter, does it?"

"What was that about?" Fin asked, smirking curiously at Olivia.

"Nothing," Olivia said to him. "Just, uh, girl talk."

Nick chuckled as he leaned over the table and whispered harshly to Elliot. "Man, he doesn't know?"

"Up until you opened your mouth," Elliot said, giving Nick a cold stare, "No one else did."

"Sorry," Nick said with a shrug. He cleared his throat and looked up at Grissom. "Hodges has the clothes Warrick found in he dumpster. He's running…"

"Yes, I know," Grissom said to him. He looked at Elliot. "When Brass gives us the go ahead, I want you and Olivia to meet him here, and he'll take you to the site. I'll send a few of my guys along with you, see if we can find the missing pieces of...White's puzzle." He took a deep breath and then let his eyes travel to Olivia's. He smiled at her, tilted his head, and whispered to her, "If he ever hurts you…" he paused, rested a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed as he told her without words what he needed to say. "I'd get away with it, you know."

She laughed. "Yeah," she said, smiling at him, "I know." She grew serious, her eyes boring into his, her smile a genuine, soft, yet severe one. "He won't, though."

Grissom nodded, straightened up, and then looked at Fin. "You have any experience in a lab?"

Fin thought for a moment. "Once, I watched Melinda Warner cut open a…"

"So, that's a 'no,'" Grissom interrupted. "Come with me, I'd like to introduce you to someone. You're going to help him with a couple of things."

Olivia watched Grissom leave with Fin, and looked back at Nick. "Why the hell did you tell him?"

"Because I thought he would talk you out of it," Nick scowled. "I thought he would convince you that you rushed into something you weren't ready for, and that you'd realize it, but he told me he already knew about it, and that he was happy for you, so I…"

Elliot stopped him. "He said he knew?" His head whipped toward Olivia. "How could he possibly know?"

Olivia reached over to him and pulled something grey and fuzzy off of his shoulder. "He's the most accredited criminologist in the country, El. He probably figured it out. Maybe you looked at me funny, or I walked with a weird kick in my step, or maybe he saw it in our eyes. What were you two really talking about this morning?"

Elliot's eyes closed and he laughed, realizing. "Yeah, I, uh, I guess he did know, after all." He sighed and looked at Nick. "Look, I know how you feel, and I don't…I don't blame you, all right? I knew, when I started falling for her, that I would never get over her. And for years, I had no choice but to pretend…to lie to myself…to her." He exhaled. "But we didn't rush into anything. It actually…took us way too long to get here, and I am more ready to give her everything, everything I have, everything she wants and needs." He licked his lips and squeezed her thigh, letting two of his fingers push upward, into her clothed heat. He chuckled to himself, feeling the warmth radiate, enveloping his hand. "Thing is, what she needs now, is for you to understand that you have to let go of whatever you had, years ago, no matter how painful it is, because even if we didn't get drunk and stupid, here, last night…eventually, you all would've been getting wedding invitations in the mail."

Nick looked at Elliot, as if seeing him for the first time. He swallowed hard, nodded, and got up out of his seat. "I should…I should get back to work." He walked out without saying anything to Olivia, leaving her alone in the room with Elliot.

There was a moment of silence, and then Olivia spoke. "You just said…"

"I know what I said," he countered, overlapping her. "The way this started, you and me, wasn't exactly honorable, but damn, I've been in love with you for so fucking long…I don't think we would have made it more than a month without me putting a ring on your finger." He blinked, swallowed, and said, "And let's face it, if we tried to make this work, one of us would have fucked up, or I would've pushed too hard, you would have scared me shitless…"

"We wouldn't have fucked up," she argued. Her eyes turned downward, she frowned a bit, and she smiled sadly as she took his free hand in hers and shifted in her seat. "I need you to tell me if we just did. If last night…"

His lips stopped her question; his kiss made her moan and gasp slightly. He pulled away slowly, brushing his nose against hers. "I think we're in deep shit," he laughed, "But I don't think we fucked up. I think…no, I know…whatever parts of our brains that were working last night were trying to protect us, trying to set in stone what we never would have, otherwise. We did…what we wanted to do. For once, we didn't care about what Cragen would do, how my ex would react, how the kids would handle it, and we did something…for us. Were we stupid, selfish, and fucking shitfaced? Yes, but I knew what I was doing." He gave her nose another nudge with his. "You did, too, didn't you?"

She smiled, still looking down at her hand in his, and she nodded. Facing him fully, she said, "That's part of why I was so bitchy this morning. Besides the hangover, I thought you'd be looking for the first available opportunity to have it annulled."

"Eight years," he said to her. "Eight years, six months, four days, twelve hours, and seventeen minutes. That's how long, Liv. Morning coffee, late-night burgers, hours in a car alone, nights up in the bunks, a few undercover gigs where I got to play the part of your husband, proudly calling you my wife…those were the best dates of my life. You can't tell me you didn't think of them that way. I know, uh, I know how you must have felt when I made that first move, but I swear to you…"

"El, I know," she said, to him, letting go of his hand and cupping his face. "You're not as bloodless as you think. I saw right through you, and I felt everything you were feeling. I wouldn't have…" she pressed her lips together and moved closer to him. "If there was ever a doubt in my mind that it was meaningless, it never would've happened. And we had enough conversations about your marriage, and its problems, for me to know that you weren't using me, that you weren't sleeping with…her." She brushed the pads of her thumbs under his eyes, smoothing out the dark circles and bags leftover from their alcohol-fueled, sex-filled, sleepless night. "And when she left, God, you were so fucking happy," she laughed, shaking her head. "You wouldn't let me get out of your bed for…" Her words were cut off with another kiss, a deeper one, more eager, more desperate. She whimpered against his lips, her way of succumbing, of caving, of finally surrendering to the truth.

He smiled as he pulled back, breathless, keeping their foreheads pressed together with one hand looped around her neck. "Every time I kiss you," he panted, "It's like I can feel…everything. Everything." He kissed her again and mumbled something against her lips, chuckling when she murmured a response into his mouth. Breaking away from her again, his smile faded. "I know…I know we made a pretty big decision, last night. And it's…I know it's not going to be easy. We weren't even really…fully…together." He brushed her hair back and looked into her eyes. "I'm not easy to live with, we have to hide this at work, my kids are probably going to have a thing or two to say about it. We made a big fucking mess, and I know…it's not going to be simple, trying to make this work...but I want to try, like hell."

She didn't know she was crying, not until she felt him wiping away the tears that had rolled down her cheeks. "As much as this terrifies me to say," she said, and then she sniffled and let out a shaky laugh, "So do I."

"Relieved, he let his shoulders drop, and his eyes rolled as he laughed again, cupping her face and kissing her hard. A clearing throat tore them apart, and as they both turned slightly red, they looked sheepishly at the man in the doorway.

Grissom grinned. "Brass is here, he's got your warrant," he said. "You ready?"

Elliot nodded, standing, and he pulled down his tee shirt as he watched Olivia rise. "Yeah, we are," he said, and he looked at her. "For everything."

"Don't be so sure of that," Grissom said, eyeing them both warningly. He led them out of the room, into the hallway toward Sherriff Jim Brass, and toward something they weren't prepared for, at all.

 _ **Peace and Love**_

 _ **Jo**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. CSI is the intellectual property of Anthony E. Zuiker. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.**_

Jim Brass stares at the unfamiliar faces for a long while, darting his eyes from them to Grissom, and back again. "Yeah, I see it," he said, acknowledging something of which only he was even aware. He laughed under his breath, folded his arms, and nodded once at Olivia as he held out a folded document. "This gets you into the van, the construction site, and his apartment."

Taking it with a returned nod, she said, "Thanks, we really…"

"Grissom trusts you," Brass interrupted. He was smiling but his words and tone were not friendly. "I don't. Not yet. You want me to? You do this by the book. My book. CSI Willows and CSI Brown will go with you, you do not touch anything beyond the scope of…"

"With all due respect," Olivia interrupted, handing her own unfriendly smile to him, "I'm a damn good cop, I'm pretty sure policy and procedure is the same here as it is in New York, and I'm not an idiot."

"So he tells me," Brass remarked, thumbing over at Grissom. "I'll believe it when I see it." He shot her another superiority-laced smile and waved, telling her to leave and do what she and her New York buddies had to do.

She scoffed and turned her back on him, waving for Elliot and Fin to follow her. She looked over at Catherine, flanking her left side, and said, "He's a peach."

"Isn't he, though?" Willows laughed, nudging her. With her smile growing genuine, she lowered her voice. "So you really took the jump, huh?"

"Right guy," Olivia shrugged, shielding her eyes with an upturned hand as they stepped out into the Vegas sunset, her entire body still recovering from a night of reckless abandon. She wagged her head a bit, and then added, "Wrong time, but...right guy."

"You sure?" A voice from her right spoke, sounding bitter.

She turned to see Nick, his naturally severe brow even more angular, his eyes dark, a look she recognized from her former life, and it gave her chills. "Yeah," she nodded. "I'm sure." She dragged a hand through her hair, momentarily wincing as a few strands snagged around her newly acquired ring. "What the hell are you even…"

"Traded Warrick," Nick spat. "This, with you, for staying in the air-conditioned lab with the hot, young intern." He grinned, his dimples making him more charming, and he hoped reminding her that she loved him, once. "Couldn't resist seeing you back in action."

"Yeah, the only action you'll see from her is in the field," Elliot threatened, stepping up to him and practicality shoving him away from his partner. His wife. He growled, unaware but unapologetic.

Once again, Olivia stepped between them. "Enough," she hissed at Elliot, glaring at him. "We already talked about…"

"It's not you I don't trust," he spat back at her, glaring over her shoulder at Nick. He felt her hands on his shoulders and he closed his eyes, pent up emotions boiling over. He lowered his gaze, shook his head, and walked away from her, heading in the direction of the black Jeep they'd be taking to their scene.

Catherine got in the driver's seat, Nick in the passenger spot, and Fin, Elliot, and Olivia shoved into the back. Knowing the cramped space called for hushed tones, Olivia whispered right into Elliot's ear. "What the hell is wrong with you? We're working, you can't let him…"

"With Porter," he interrupted, his voice barely audible but the pain in his eyes speaking volumes, "It was always just a pissing contest, getting under his skin, running his nose in it because I knew you didn't...you never loved him. But him? You almost married…"

"To get away from my mother," she said softly, taking one of his hands in hers. "I loved him enough, but it was more about...running away from the rest of my life than starting one with him. I realized that if I married him, we would eventually become…"

"Me and Kathy," he finished for her, squeezing her hand. He exhaled again, his breath trembling. His shaking voice cracked as he whispered to her, "He had parts of you that I...never will. He knew you when you were finding yourself, he was the one that made you…"

"Grissom did that," she stopped him, "And I could say the same thing about Kathy! Hell, I have said the same thing about her, how she got the star quarterback, the young carefree jock." She tried to look into his eyes but he was still staring down at their linked hands. "All of that...made us who we are, so we could be here, now."

He looked up at her and some relief washed over him.

She smiled. "I didn't marry him," she whispered. "I married you. Everyone before...the mistakes and the missteps, they proved we weren't ready. They were there so we would know how...how to not fuck this up, how to be better at this because it's what we fucking deserved, how to appreciate...love, honor, and fucking obey each other to the fullest, because we know how, now. We are ready, now."

"I'd give anything to kiss you right now," he said softly.

"Can't," she winked, and then she leaned forward and looked over at Fin, covering for her personal moment with Elliot. "What about you? You think what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?"

Fin laughed. "Well, I'd like to take the Benson from the bar home, but you already said she's dead and gone, and maybe it's better if…" he looked at her with a pointed expression. "Certain people never find out what really happened out here, yeah?"

Olivia's brows knitted and she tilted her head.

"This shit with White? Cragen gets wind of the details, he'll not only make sure this hump gets off on a murder charge, but he'll probably fly out here and give the man a God damned medal." He laughed again. "We all hoped for a fuckin' sticky end for this bastard, but no one more than him." He eyed Elliot. "Except maybe you."

Elliot nodded, fire in his eyes again. He looked up and leaned forward. "So I figure Liv and I will find the guy, talk to him, you two process the van and then we'll all have a look around the…"

"Hey, Bucko, we don't take orders from you," Nick said, not bothering to turn to look at him. Catherine smacked him, hard, in the chest, and as he grunted and coughed, he said, "But, uh, good plan." He nodded once, rolling his eyes as the chuckles from Olivia and Catherine hit his ears. He rubbed his chest and shot a hard look at Catherine. "Ow," he exaggerated, holding it out.

"You deserves it, Nicky," she replied, "Be civil."

"I'm going to say that, next time Sara makes a suggestive comment about Grissom's 'body of evidence." He made gestured quotes, and wiggled his eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, what?" Olivia's eyes widened inquisitively as she caught Catherine's stare in the rear view mirror.

Catherine shot up a frustrated eye roll, and she said, "Look, it's not like he responds, he just...he's polite, he's not going to offend or embarrass her so he pretends to not even realize she's hitting on him."

"Anyone hitting on him…" Olivia shuddered. "He's like my father. No thanks."

"Oh," Catherine laughed. "I know, just think of how he felt when he found out you and Nicky…"

"Point made!" Olivia shouted, wide-eyed. She shot her eyes toward a now glowering Elliot and confused Fin.

Catherine seethed apologetically as she turned the wheel. She parked the Jeep on a lopsided angle and turned over her shoulder. "We're going with Elliot's idea, me and Nicky'll get what we can from the van, you two go talk to Hanlin, and...Fin, was it?" She watched Fin nod. "You can help us out, I'll show you how the ropes."

"Sounds good to me," Fin replies with a smirk. He was the first one out of the car, leaving the door open for Olivia and Elliot.

Nick and Elliot hit the gravel at the same time, their brooding intensity causing steam to rise in a heated cloud around them. They stared each other down, cracking knuckles and flaring nostrils, twitching muscles in hopes of intimidating and manipulating. Nick moved, an inch closer, Elliot didn't flinch, but he smiled. He poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue and shot out a hand to his left.

Obvious to the battle of the boys, Olivia slipped her hand into Elliot's as she slid out of the car, her boots landing with a click and a crunch. "Thanks," she said to him sweetly, and she returned his smile.

Elliot turned, walking with her toward the foreman's table, not once looking back at Nick.

Nick, however, stated hard, long, plotting his next move. He knew that if he could just get her alone for a while, he could reignite the flame, convince her to stay in Vegas, with him. "How," he asked himself, shaking his head. He slammed the car door and walked over to Catherine and Fin who were searching the lot for Hanlin's van, and he smirked.

He knew, exactly, how.

 _ **Peace and Love**_

 _ **Jo**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. CSI is the intellectual property of Anthony E. Zuiker. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.**_

"Blood in the back of the van tested positive for blood," Catherine yelled, holding up a thin swab. She held it by the plastic cap and dropped it into its box as she stepped closer to Olivia and Elliot. "Fin and Nicky are vacuuming the carpets and checking for prints." She pushed her sunglasses up further on her nose with her middle finger and asked, "What'd you get?"

"A whole lot of nothing," Elliot said, holding a hand up to shield his eyes from the glaring sun, one hand shuffling around in his pocket for his shades. "Hanlin isn't here, the guy running the show in his place doesn't know where he is, but, uh," he paused to slide his sunglasses onto his face. "He very kindly gave us Hanlin's home address."

Catherine raised a brow and grinned, but the gleam in her eyes was hidden by the dark lenses. "He just offered that up, huh?"

Elliot licked his lips and smirked. "I can be very persuasive."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Intimidating and threatening, is more accurate." She hit him in the stomach with the back of her hand. She looked back at Catherine. "We were told that Hanlin came to work this morning, grabbed a black bag out of the trailer, left the van here and took off in a red pickup." She wagged a small spiral notebook in the air. "Got the tag numbers, it's a company car."

"Wow," Catherine said, impressed. "You really are, uh, persuasive, huh?"

The three of them shared a laugh, and then looked up at the other two people heading for them. There was loud chatter echoing their way, and both men looked ready to drop the boxes and mags in their hands.

Catherine held up both hands and ran, getting between the two of them before any of the evidence could be compromised. "Hey! What is going on here?"

"Professional differences," Nick spat, glaring at Fin. He looked to his left, catching Olivia's eyes, and he seemed to relax. "We got a lot of trace to go through," he jostled the box in his hands, wiggling the plastic and paper bags around. "Hodges is going to have a field day."

Fin held up the large paper bag in his hands. "Cut out a good chunk of the bloody carpet," he said with a nod. "Stokes called Brass, they're sending a tow truck out here to grab the van."

Elliot licked his lips and rested his hands on his hips. "That guy," he shook his head. "Smug bastard." He exhaled harshly and then said, "We need to head out to the…"

"Bookstore," Nick said with a nod. "We know. It's less than a block from here, that's the whole…"

"No, we got a lead on Hanlin," Olivia interrupted. She ignored the bit of annoyed hurt appearing in Nick's eyes. "He isn't here, we need to head out to his place before he makes a run for it."

Nick took a step toward her. "What? We're not done here! We have to go through everything they poured since last night, and we have a mountain of evidence, here, we have to get it all back to the lab before…"

"Hey!" Catherine yelled. When all of the heads were turned in her direction, she tossed her keys to Elliot. "You two, take the ride to Hanlin's, we will finish up here and then walk over to the bookstore and see what else we can get, and I'll call Sara to meet us with another car." She shrugged. "Problem solved."

"Thanks, Cath," Olivia sighed, shooting her a grateful look. She gave Elliot a shove toward the black Jeep, hoping to avoid any more awkward moments with Nick. They got into the car, and almost immediately, Olivia flipped open the notebook to punch the address into the GPS.

"Is that what I was like?" Elliot started the car and backed out of the makeshift space as carefully as he could, avoiding piles of wood and concrete. He shot a quick look over toward Olivia. "You know, uh, when I was...before we…" he cleared his throat. "Well, I know I was jealous, but was I ever that obnoxious?"

Olivia chuckled. "You were worse," she told him. "Whenever a guy hit on me, you'd move in like starved panther. You'd act like I was yours, and he had no right to even breathe the same air as me."

"You were," he shrugged, turning the wheel when the robotic voice told him to, "He didn't." He took a deep breath, finding a bit of solace in how much easier it was to do so now, and he said, "That's what I need you to understand, here," he gave her another furtive glance. "I always thought of you as mine, that's why we...happened. The way we did wasn't exactly something out of a Nicholas Sparks novel, but we…"

"You know who Nicholas Sparks is?" she interrupted him, a humored expression on her face.

He chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Only because I have daughters," he told her. "I'm trying to tell you...the reason I would bare my fangs for any guy who gave you that kind of attention...was because I knew we weren't...official. We were, technically, having an affair...for a long time, I was afraid that...no, I knew that it wasn't enough. I wasn't enough for you. I ran them off to give myself more time."

"And you honestly think I didn't know?" Olivia spoke. "El, I played the game right beside you. I only went out with them to scare you into making a choice. Either let me go or find a way to…"

"Keep you," he finished for her, and he reached over to her side of the car and grabbed her hand, letting his thumb run lightly over the rings on her finger. "That's exactly what I fucking did." He let out another extensive breath. "And now he's looking at me the way I always looked at Porter. And that reporter, who…" he caught a glimpse of her out of the corners of his eyes. "I really don't have anything to worry about, I know that."

"Good," she said, and then she said, "You're gonna miss the turn, you talked over the GPS." She pointed and then laughed when he turned the wheel hard, making the Jeep swerve and tires squeal. "You want one of these, don't you?"

"If we ever move to a place with rough terrain, yes, but these aren't exactly practical in the city, baby," he chuckled. "We wouldn't even need a car if we didn't live in Queens."

"Correction," she said, raising a finger. "You live in Queens. I still have a place in Midtown." She tilted her head. "I suppose I have to call my landlord, huh? Officially break my lease?"

Elliot nodded and gave another happy sounding laugh. "You haven't spent a single night there in months, and that last time was because Kathy took the kids to see Hamilton and they spent the night at her place." He furrowed his brow. "Why were you still…"

"Security," she told him with a small shrug. "We weren't...um, you know there was always that thought in the back of my mind, one day you'd wake up and realize that I wasn't what you wanted. I thought I needed a place to go if…"

"Never," he spat harshly. "That would have never happened, even if we didn't…"

"Get drunk and get married?" she chimed in, running her hands through her hair. "My headache's finally going away."

He rolled his eyes and smirked at her. "You really thought I would…"

"Yeah," she said, but her tone was somber, her mood dark, her eyes focused on her lap. "El, you don't...you don't get it, okay? You getting jealous of Kurt Moss made very little sense, he meant next to nothing to me, and I had absolutely no problem dumping his ass. But I had to sit in the shadows of your life, watching you with a wife, and kids, and there was always that fear...that even if I managed to drag you away from her, the ties you had to her, because of your history and your children...would be enough to drag you back.

He pulled the Jeep over to the curb, parking it in front of Hanlin's place. Turning fast, he took her hands in his and looked at her, a serious stare. "No one is ever going to pull me away from you," he whispered to her. "No one is ever even going to try. They know better. Because all they have to do is look at me, see me looking at you, and they'll know they don't have a fucking prayer."

She smiled at him, slanted herself forward, and kissed him quickly. "Then we're good," she said with a wink. Her focus was pulled toward the house and the driveway, and she said, "Red pickup. He's home."

Instantly, they were in cop-mode, hands reaching for their badges as they exited the Jeep. In step, they walked up the path to the front door. Elliot held up his badge as he knocked on the door. "Mister Hanlin, police! Open up!"

They were met with silence, and Elliot pounded on the door again, causing it to creak open slightly. "That's not good," he whispered, clipping his badge down and picking his gun up, then stepping slightly in front of Olivia. He kicked the door open and aimed the gun, looking around the front room.

Olivia had her gun in her hands as well, readying it and walking with him. She tapped on the shoulder, then jutted her chin, telling him to head into the next room while she went forward into the kitchen. "Mister Hanlin?" she yelled, cautiously raising her gun and moving slowly.

"Liv!" Elliot yelled for her, "In here."

She turned and ran toward Elliot, gun high, but as soon as she walked into the bedroom, she lowered her gun. "Awesome," she scoffed. She slipped her gun into her holster and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. She dialed as she said, "This is just fucking perfect."

He wrapped his hand around her arm as he stared down at the body of Roger Hanlin. He popped his head around to her when he heard her voice.

"Gris," she said, and then she smiled slightly. "Yeah, I am. Listen, we, uh...we found Hanlin. No, well, he's dead. We need another team out...no, they're all still at the construction...she did? Great, okay. No, we'll look around here, and when they get here, I'll call you. Thanks." She noticed the befuddled expression on Elliot's face. "Catherine already called and told him where we went, so he has the address. He's sending Warrick and Greg out here, and told us to see what we could find on our own, as long as we don't touch…"

"Same rules as home," he nodded. "Don't touch the body." He ran his hand up and down her arm. "You sure you're okay? You feeling better about...everything?"

She nodded. "This is gonna take longer, now, isn't it?" She looked at him, worried.

He smiled at her. "You'll have more time with Grissom," he said with a shrug. "Look at the silver lining." He let his hand fall away from her and he checked his watch. "I need to call Cragen, we told him we'd check in."

Olivia watched him make a phone call of his own as she slipped her cell into her pocket. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, knowing that he was about to start the cycle, the first lie in what would be a snowball effect of them. She blew a slow breath out through her mouth as she dropped her gaze. "What the fuck happened here?" she asked softly to no one, but someone was about to give her an answer, loudly and clearly.

 _ **Peace and Love**_

 _ **Jo**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. CSI is the intellectual property of Anthony E. Zuiker. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.**_

"We have been at this for over an hour," Nick complained, rubbing his eyes. The papers in his lap seemed to multiply on their own, offering no information of any use. "Why are we in here reading through all this crap, and Benson gets to hang on the stage with Grissom?"

Warrick Brown, the resident smooth operator, flipped over a page of his own. "Because you had a hissy fit about staying with Catherine at the bookstore and got yourself benched, and now I get to babysit your ass until you apologize to Grissom." He scanned another page of the docket in his hands. "Are either of you finding a link between Hanlin and White, other than the Riker's logs?"

Elliot yawned, shaking his head. He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them wide, sniffling, trying to keep himself awake. "Gotta be someone in the system. Why was Hanlin a regular visitor, what did White have on him?" he mumbled, and he shot a glance toward Nick. "You said...she's on stage? What does that mean?"

"The stage," Nick cracked, rolling his eyes. "It's what we call the layout room, where the physical evidence is put together like a jigsaw puzzle, where we solve the crime. It's where the real work is done. Grissom's in there, having the time of his life with his protégée, and I'm in here with…" he made a nauseated face and suppressed a gag. "You."

"Oh, like being in here with the guy my wi…" he glanced at Warrick. "The guy my partner almost married...is a picnic for me?" Elliot shook his head. "Can we just do the job, here, and put the personal shit aside?"

"Great idea, I second that," Warrick said, flipping another page. His eyes zoomed in on something printed in the middle of the page and he sat up just a tad straighter. "Hanlin's brother-in-law worked in the prison, security supervisor. He was killed on the job, six months ago."

"What?" Elliot's voice cracked as he stiffened. "What...no, uh, don't tell me his name was Lyle Prit…"

"Lyle Pritchett," Warrick said, handing the sheet of paper to Elliot across the table. "You know the guy?"

Elliot nodded. "Me and Liv, uh, we dealt with him a lot when we had to transport and interview inmates," he said, and then he breathed out hard through a half-opened mouth. "He was also the guard I was paying to keep me in the loop as far as White was concerned. Son-of-a-bitch," he spat, a balled fist slamming down onto the table.

"Well, well, well," Nick chuckled, "Looks like this is all your fault, huh, Bucko?"

Warrick rolled his eyes and looked ahead at Elliot, his ice blue eyes trying to look trusting. "No one thinks this is your fault. It's just a thing that happened." He scanned the next page as he said, "Maybe this will convince you." He grinned and handed over another sheet of paper.

Elliot took it from him, read it quickly, and nodded. "Yeah, this, uh...this changes things." He let his lips curl into a very small smile and said, "Hanlin was paying Pritchett for the same thing, one of White's victims was his sister." He looked up and glared almost victoriously at Nick. "Which way to the, uh, the stage?"

Nick glowered, tossing the pile of now useless paperwork onto the table. "Down the hall, on the right, you'll...you'll know it when you see it." He leaned forward and eyeballed Elliot as he left the room and then, as soon as it was safe, he slapped Warrick in the arm. "Hey," he bit, "Thanks for having my back, here, man! What the hell were you…"

"You're being more obnoxious than usual," Warrick said dryly, and he shook his head, making his brown curls bouncy lightly. "I'm not about to let anyone thing I approve or agree with you, right now."

"You don't even know him," Nick chuckled. "Or her. You met her once, three years ago, but me? I've known her for what seems like forever and that asshole…" he pointed to Elliot's vacated seat. "He's wrong for her. All wrong."

Warrick pursed his lips and shifted more toward Nick. "He's her partner. She's a cop from across the country, Nicky, and he's her partner. You're letting this get personal…"

"Damn right, it's personal," Nick quipped, standing fast. "No one understands how damn personal this is! Except…" He popped up out of his chair, running after Elliot, and caught up to him in the hall. "Hey," he called, and then yelled a bit louder. "Stabler!"

Elliot turned but then scowled and shook his head. "I don't have time to…"

"Does she still do that cute little coy thing, you know, with the sheets?" Nick questioned, a mischievous grin on his face. "You know, she pulls them up in bed, won't let you…"

"I've never seen her do that," Elliot interrupted, brow furrowed. "With me, uh, she just…" he made a sweeping gesture with his hand over his chest, "Nothing." He shrugged and tried to turn, but Nick's voice stopped him again.

"What you did, man, that's not going to change her," Nick said with a bit more of a threat hanging off of his words. "You think, oh, you tied the knot, things will be different, but not with Benson. She's still going to creep out of bed in the middle of the night, she's still going to leave before you can make…"

"Stokes, what the fuck are you talking about?" Elliot gripped the paper in his hands a bit tighter as he folded his arms, widening his stance. "She's stayed with me all night, every night, since the first time we slept together eight fucking years ago, even helps me make breakfast in the morning. So I'm not sure what you think…"

Nick shook his head and held out both hands. "No, no, she's terrified of commitment, she wouldn't even leave her toothbrush at my place until after I asked her to marry me." He licked his lips and scoffed. "You're lying to try to get under my…"

"Look," Elliot lowered his voice and took a step closer to Nick. "It's not my place to tell you her reasons for being with you, but it's in the past, she grew up and she changed and she is with me. Happy, with me, for the right fucking reasons, and I would appreciate it if…"

"She scream?" Nick asked, his nostrils flared as he puffed out his chest. "See, with me, she was always quiet, breathy, I could never get her to make any kind of noise, so you say she's so different with you, tell me if…"

"It's none of your fucking business," Elliot cut in, his jaw right. But then he smirked. "But since you asked," he licked his lips and his voice dropped into a gravelly drone. "She's only quiet and breathy when the kids are in the house. We both are. When we're alone, well...luckily none of the neighbors ever called the cops but I'm sure they could hear us down the damn block. She also bites and scratches and there are nights where she's so fucking dominant that…"

Nick looked away from him, holding up a hand to stop him. "I get it," he said, and he dropped his gaze to the tops of his boots. "You said...real reasons, what, she didn't love me, that what you're trying to tell me?"

"I'm sure she loved you," Elliot lied, protecting the man's feelings as well as Olivia's trust. He ran a hand down his face and said, "Just...it was college, she was going through a lot with her mother, and she realized she wasn't ready for…"

"El?" Olivia called him, her head peeking out from the glass door of the large lab she was working in with Grissom. "I was just about to come get you, we got something…"

"So do I," he said, slowly turning from Nick to Olivia, and he smiled a bit more broadly once he saw her face. He held up the paper Warrick had given him. "Got Hanlin's motive."

"Great," she waved him over to her and said, "Because we found his killer."

 _ **Peace and Love**_

 _ **Jo**_


End file.
